Women's basketball: Lady Spires snap three-game slump

Monday

Jan 21, 2013 at 10:04 PM

USM nails down a victory; Lansing, Immaculata and Pleasant Ridge all come up short

Times Report

Tied at 42 late in the second half Saturday, the Saint Mary women’s basketball team showed its defensive grit.Allowing just two field goals over the game’s final seven minutes of play, the Lady Spires went on to collect its second conference victory by beating visiting Bethel College 56-51.“One of the things we adjusted is that we’ve played more zone,” USM coach Mike Basler said. “It has really helped us defensively cover dribble penetration a lot better. It has been five players cohesively working together and that has really helped us.”After starting the game down 9-2, Saint Mary clawed back to get even-steven midway through the first half. Ten minutes later and the score sat at 24-24 entering the halftime break.The second period saw neither team build more than a four-point lead, until the game’s final minutes.It was then that USM buckled down defensively and muscled out the five-point victory.Shelby Watson led the winning team with 12 points while Jolynn Glorioso added 10. Eleven Lady Spires recorded at least a point in the affair and as a team, the squad made 19 of its 22 free throws, including some huge ones down the stretch.“If we don’t shoot free throws well, we don’t win that game,” Basler said. “It was a big key, that and rebounding the ball. Jolynn Glorioso also stepped up huge for us.”USM, 7-14 overall and 2-8 in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, will host Friends University Thursday at 6 p.m.

Lansing can’t close in lossOver the last week and a half, the Lansing girls’ basketball team has been getting closer and closer to ending its current eight-game losing streak.But a poor second half doomed those chances Saturday. Competing in the seventh place game at the 54th Annual Tonganoxie Invitational, the Lady Lions lost 47-43 to Atchison.“We were up 26-22 at the half, but then we struggled with turnovers in the second half that killed us,” Lansing coach Christine Robinson said. “We had a hard time at the end of the game making baskets.”Morgan Bromell led the Lady Lions with 13 points while Carly Bohannon put in eight.Lansing, 1-12, will host Tonganoxie at 6 p.m. on Jan. 29.

Offensive shortage dooms ImacA slim 22-19 deficit grew into a 47-33 defeat Saturday for the Immaculata girls’ basketball team.After battling with Riverside for most of three quarters, the Lady Raiders posted just four points in the final period. That offensive outage led to the 14-point loss in the teams’ final game at the Doniphan West Tournament. Imac finished the competition 0-3.Lainey Bell recorded nine points for the Lady Raiders while Grace Parker had eight and Kasey Cannon seven.Immaculata, 4-8, will play at Valley Falls at 6 p.m. on Jan. 29.

PR drops third straightA rough Royal Valley Tournament came to an unceremonious close Saturday for the Pleasant Ridge girls’ basketball team.Trying to stop its first losing streak of the season, the Lady Rams fell 51-22 to Wabaunsee. It was Ridge’s third straight defeat after it went 7-1 to begin the season.From the start, it was a struggle for PR. The team scored just two first quarter points before being outscored 22-9, 17-5 in the next two periods.Pleasant Ridge, 7-4, will play at Troy at 6 p.m. on Jan. 29.

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